H.264 banding (?) issue

Hi,
I'm trying to render an export from after effects (*.mov, animation codec) to h.264 via quicktime.
I chose hi quality, multi-pass, everything on max
the resulting file is around 500 mb, which is large but that's fine in this case
BUT there are a few seconds with a lot of blur, in a transition, and I keep getting banding issues there - if you can call it that.
like: http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=1439218968&size=o
what am I doing wrong? I mean, I suppose it must be possible to get h.264 without these kind of artifacts?

If you are rendering out of After Effects, try changing the the composition from an 8 bit composition to a 16 bit composition. Unless you are using a lot of 8-bit only filters, it should reduce the banding.

You should consider compressing in a compression program. After Effects cannot do multi-pass compression which means it doesn't analyze the video before compressing. As a result you get a lot of artifacts and bad video in general. Even compressing in Quicktime Pro will yield significantly better results, although your best bet are programs like Cleaner or Sorenson Squeeze.

You got me there. I have to admit that I haven't looked at the exporter in years. The reason for that is that you have very limited control over your export.

Good to know though. Always happy to learn more. Thanks!

Still, I'll never use it for one reason - Multi-pass renders take at least twice as long as a regular one (often longer). If you decide to alter the compression settings, then you have to go back and re-render again, even if the animation itself is flawless.

It's best to render uncompressed and then use a dedicated compression program. But, hey,in a fix, it's there for you. BTW - If you have QuickTime Pro, you can render uncompressed and have exactly the same options for expo9rting in quicktime. In other words you can avoid the problem of slow rendering, while getting the same multi-pass option you'll find in "export."

However, if you can afford to buy a dedicated compression program, you should definitely consider it. You'll have much better results.